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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 



I 



IDEALS °^ STRENGTH 



JOHN WATSON 

(Ian Maclarkn) 

Author of " Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" " Home 
' Making" Etc. 



TOG-ETHER WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 



& 



NEW YORK S-O V 1>*1 ^ -^ V 
WILBUR B. KETCHAM 

2 COOPER UNION 



y^^p 



Copyright, 1897, 

BY 

WILBUR B. KETCHAM. 






JOHN WATSON. 

(IAN MACLAREN.) 



The Rev. Jolin Watson 
M. A., better known as Ian 
Maclaren, was born in Mann- 
ingtree, Essex, England, in 
1850. He is, however, a pnre 
Scot. It is related that while 
yet yonng the family removed 
to London. Some years of his 
childhood life were spent at 
Perth and Stirling. His pa- 
rents were decidedly religions, 
with strong and positive con- 



6 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

victions. His father was a 
faithful elder of the Free 
Church of Scotland and highly 
respected. His mother pos- 
sessed aversions equally strong 
with her convictions. With 
a kind spirit that was proverb- 
ial, and the record of a life 
unaffected by class distinc- 
tions, and abundant in minis- 
trations to those in trouble, 
she was lamented at death, 
and keen was the loss and 
affection felt for her. Both 
parents were eminently wor- 
thy. Mr. Watson was edu- 
cated at the University of 
Edinburgh. He also pursued 
studies at Tiibingen. Among 
his early school associates 
were names that have become 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 7 

famous, as Henry Drummond, 
James Stalker, Robert Louis 
Stevenson and George Adam 
Smith. Mr. Watson has said 
that Scott was the first writer 
who left any impression on 
his mind, which author he 
read eagerly. *^ Four authors 
he singles out as masters, 
Scott, Carlyle, Matthew Ar- 
nold and Seely, the author of 
Ecce Hoiitoy He entered the 
University of the Free Church 
of Scotland and became assist- 
ant pastor of Dr. J. H. Wilson, 
of the Barclay Church, Edin- 
burgh. A year later he be- 
came the minister of the Free 
Church of Logiealmond, in 
Perthshire. For two-and-a- 
half years he remained there. 



8 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

Perthsliire, has been rendered 
famous, and now well-known 
as ^' Drumtoclity/' to whicli 
frequent references are made 
in his published works. An 
uncle had been minister 
there before the '^ Disruption '' 
in 1843. His literary plans 
for many years (from the time 
he was at Logiealmond), were 
akin to those completed twenty 
years later. The modesty of 
Mr. Watson and a natural dis- 
trust led to the abandonment, 
for all these years, of his ear- 
lier ideals. Such was his bril- 
liancy and popularity as a 
preacher, that his fame spread, 
and invitations came urging 
him to leave the quiet parish 
of Logiealmond on the borders 



1 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 9 

of the Highlands, which was 
half Highland and half Low- 
land. He accepted an invita- 
tion from the St. Matthew's 
Church in Glasgow to be col- 
league to Dr. Samuel Miller. 
Subsequently, three years la- 
ter, he was called to the Sef ton 
Park Presbyterian Church, 
Liverpool, where he has, with 
great acceptability and success, 
held its pastorate for seventeen 
years. There is no church in 
Liverpool, with a larger or 
more influential congregation. 
Of him Mr. W. Robertson 
Nicholl writes and echoes a 
universal sentiment, ^^ There 
cannot be much hesitation in 
saying that among English 
preachers of the younger gen- 



lo IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

eration Mr. Watson holds a 
foremost, if not the first place.'' 

It was upon the appearance 
of his inimitable work, ^^ Be- 
side the Bonnie Brier Bush," 
in 1894, that his skill and 
power in the literary world be- 
came famous. The sales of 
this work in a single year 
have exceeded 100,000 copies. 
Mr. Watson was once asked, 
what suggested to him the 
picturesque title of his book, 
— ^^ Beside the Bonnie Brier 
Bush.'' 

^^ The title'' he replied, "is 
based on a verse of Scotch po- 
etry, which I have printed on 
the inner page of the title : 



There grows a bonnie brier bush 
In our kail-yard. 



IDEALS OF STRENG TH, 1 1 

I meant the title to indicate 
that as brier bushes grow in 
humble cottage gardens, so 
the virtues flourish in very 
humble lives. A number of 
people have misunderstood the 
title. Some like it very much, 
others disapprove of it. I 
think, however, they would 
like it if they understood 
it.'' 

When asked " what sug- 
gested the idea of the book to 
you?'' he said: ^^ Well, I 
have always been interested in 
the study of Scotch character, 
and used to lecture on it a long 
time ago, but have not looked 
at the lectures since. The 
real reason, however, why I 
wrote the sketches was that 



1 2 IDEA LS OF S TRENG TH. 

Dr. Niclioll asked me to do so. 
That seems rather a bald ex- 
planation, bnt it is the true 
one. As far as I know, I 
should never have written 
them without that request. 
Of course I could not have 
written them unless I knew 
the particular type of life very 
well." 

He has written many works 
on philosophy and theology. 
He accepted an invitation to 
deliver the Lyman-Beecher 
Lectures to the theological 
students of Yale, at New 
Haven in 1896. The Lec- 
tures have been published and 
are full of pertinent and whole- 
some truths. He also lectured 
in the principal cities of the 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 13 

United States, being intensely 
popular. 

Of Mr. Watson's appear- 
ance Dr. J. M. Buckley writes, 
^^ He appears like a man in 
full vigor, accustomed to the 
open air, to considerable ex- 
ercise and when dressed for 
travel has an unclerical though 
not an anticlerical aspect. On 
the platform, however, he re- 
sembles the modem type of 
the English dissenting minis- 
ter of the Calvinistic denom- 
inations. His voice is of the 
more ancient ministerial type, 
approximating a drawl, the 
upward inflection with a ten- 
dency to the minor key and a 
pronounced rhythm. '^ 

His apt descriptions, his 



14 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

pathetic recitals, his tender 
utterances, assert his power 
to the unbiased critic. 

He has been surprised at 
the famous effect his stories 
have wrought and is full of 
delight and appreciation that 
such marked approbation has 
been accorded him for them. 
Mr. Watson as preacher, ex- 
positor, novelist and lecturer, 
stands as one of superior power 
and rare qualities. In all 
these varied parts and gifts he 
is a man of distinguished abil- 
ity. It was indicative of the 
character of the man that he 
should still have retained his 
picturesque nom deplume on 
the title-page of his book, in- 
stead of announcing it as the 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 15 

work of Rev. John Watson, 
the name by which his friends 
best know him. Concerning 
his nom deplume it may be 
said that ^^ Ian " is Scottish 
for John, his own name, and 
the ^^ Maclaren '^ was his mo- 
ther's name which he thus 
memorializes. On making an 
address in Brooklyn, Mr. 
Watson made some remarks 
with reference to the pronun- 
ciation of the name ^^ lan!'^ 
^' I would say," he remarked, 
^^ that if you want to pro- 
nounce it like an Englishman 
you will say I-an, if like a 
Scotchman Ee-an, and if like a 
Highlander Ee-on.'^ 

Mr. Watson is ever busy, a 
very energetic worker, ^^ he 



1 6 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

never loiters, he never trifles, 
but lias always everything in 
strict order.'' 

Such are a few of the many 
facts in the life peculiarities of 
one whose works are of exalted 
merit, whose efforts will be 
recorded among the noble, 
whose name will be heralded 
as one of the worthies — an 
immortal name that is not 
born to die. 



THE FOLLY OF STIFLING 
RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS. 

"Quench not the Spirit." i Thessa- 
lonians 5 : 19. 



THE FOLLY OF STIFLING 
RELIGIOUS CONVIC- 
TIONS. 



Accurate scholars point out 
with perfect truth that when 
St. Paul gave the solemn warn- 
ing ^^ quench not the Spirit '' 
to the Christians at Thessa- 
lonica, he was not referring, in 
the first instance, so much to 
religious convictions as to 
spiritual gifts. Those were 
days when the Spirit of Al- 
mighty God burned like a fire 
in the bones of men, and when 
they spoke because they were 

not able to be silent. Proph- 

19 



2 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

ets arose in tlie little Cliristian 
communities, who felt as if 
they had a message to the 
world, and, come what might, 
must deliver it. The Apostle 
was anxious that these deliv- 
erances of humble prophets 
should not be ignored or de- 
spised. No doubt they might 
speak when they ought rather 
to have been silent: they 
might also sometimes say 
things not worth the saying, 
but the Apostle thought it was 
better to bear the burden of 
too much hearing rather than 
to risk the loss of some proph- 
ecies. You must take so 
much quartz in order to ex- 
tract the few grains of gold, 
and the man who listened 



IDEALS OF STRENG TH, 2 1 

would be recompensed for 
mucli speaking by occasion- 
ally a beautiful gleam of 
divine revelation. The Spirit 
of God does dwell in a believ- 
ing and clean heart, the oracle 
within the heart of a believing 
man does sometimes stir and 
move him to speak, and the 
thing which he then says is a 
message to his day and gener- 
ation from one who is living 
in the fellowship of God. It 
is a poor little tape that strug- 
gles down from the electric 
machine, but yet upon that 
tape, in strange and jagged 
characters, is the message that 
has flashed from a remote cor- 
ner of the world. And so 
these uncultured men gave 



22 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

out, sometimes, their words 
in rude and ungrammatical 
speech, but yet it was some- 
thing they had to say to men's 
hearts. 

What the Apostle says about 
this has a wide range. If, 
through worldly indifference 
and intellectual scorn, we de- 
spise the revelation that comes 
by unlearned lips to us, then 
we have done our best to 
quench the Spirit of God. 
But what the Apostle says has 
a very much more sacred ap- 
plication, from which none of 
us can escape, and which I 
desire to impress upon your 
lives. The Spirit of God did 
not simply rest upon the 
prophets and Apostles so that 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 23 

they opened their mouths and 
spake the will of God. The 
almighty and merciful Spirit 
of God has had a vaster and 
more extended sphere, since 
there was a human race on 
earth ; and through the check- 
ered history of humanity, that 
Spirit has been striving with 
human hearts, and is strug- 
gling and striving in our 
hearts to-day, however care- 
less and thoughtless. 

What I mean is the one un- 
wearied and Divine influence 
has been inside our hearts ever 
since we were born, restraining 
us from irrevocable excesses 
of sin, reinforcing the spiritual 
instincts of the heart when 
they were heavy and dull, 



24 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

sustaining the solitary voice 
of conscience, awakening with- 
in us at different times pa- 
thetic memories of the Father's 
house, and giving us what is 
the sweetest and holiest de- 
sires we shall ever have — the 
desire to return to our Father's 
love. 

Sometime, on an evening, we 
have stood and looked at the 
midnight sky, and as we saw 
the moon and the stars we 
have thought they also shone 
upon our fathers. And our 
fathers' eyes looked upon 
them, and so in the heart of 
our fathers moved the same 
influence that is moving now 
in ours, in childhood, in man- 
hood, and so on to old age, and 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 



25 



which we may well pray may 
never forsake our hearts. It 
is unfortunate that most of us 
are so unconscious of the most 
profound and spiritual facts ; 
and that perhaps few of us 
have ever realized that God 
has been within us, and mov- 
ing us to our salvation. We 
have thought of Him as wait- 
ing for us in His heaven ; we 
have thought of Him as com- 
ing down in the mission of Je- 
sus, His Son, to get into touch 
with human souls. We have 
thought of him as speaking by 
the blessed Gospels, and His 
voice as pouring within our 
ears a truth far deeper and 
truer than we understood. 
That great figure in the Rev- 



2 6 IDEALS OF S TRENG TH, 

elation where the Almighty 
is represented as standing at 
the door of the hnman heart 
and knocking — how true, how 
anxious, how wistful, how 
patient ! 

We have understood that if 
our hands be but stretched out 
to the latch, and the latch, by 
the human will be lifted, and 
there be but an inch of room, 
that the grace of God should 
come in, to our repentance and 
faith. How true ! But have 
we ever said to ourselves, ^^ He 
that is without has also been 
within? '^ It is so difficult to 
our minds to imagine the 
unspeakable love of the Al- 
mighty. All you can do is to 
take one facet of the gem and 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 27 

look at it, and then turn it to 
another ; take one figure, drop 
it, and then go to another. It 
is true that the Father waits 
until the son bethinks himself 
and returns. But it is also 
true He pursues him into the 
far country, and makes it mis- 
erable th^re. And more than 
that, the Eternal love stirs in 
the heart of man as the Spirit 
brooding on the black and 
sullen waters, bringing out 
before his eyes the sight of the 
old homestead, the expression 
of his Father's face, the motion 
of happy servants that come 
and go where there is enough 
to spare ; till at last he brings 
the resolution to the birth and 
says : ^^ I will arise and go 



28 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

to my Father/' And the God 
that receives him was the God 
that moved him. 

I do venture to think that 
within your hearts you have 
sometimes felt this, one way or 
another. You have been, for 
instance, shocked out of your 
sense of perfection. You have 
had your habit of self-confi- 
dence broken. You have seen 
the stains of your soul just 
look black before sinking out 
of sight. You have been peni- 
tent and ashamed, longing to 
be forgiven and cleansed. Do 
you know anyone just like 
that? Or, death came un- 
awares, and took away one 
that was young. You saw 
the still and calm face ; felt 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 29 

that moment as if you were 
lying there ; you imagined 
yourself in another world and 
said : ^^ How shall it be with 
my soul ? '' And then your 
heart failed in you, and you 
were inclined to kneel and say, 
"Bless me, even me also, O 
my Father." Your life lost its 
freshness and its greenness ; 
pleasures had not their relish, 
blessings had not their attrac- 
tion, you were desolate for 
want of a sight of the Lord 
Jesus, insulted, scourged, cru- 
cified, dying for sins that 
were not His own. And of a 
sudden, as by the touch of 
an enchanter's wand, kindled 
springs of healing in your 
heart, and you felt yourself 



30 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

drawn, as the magnet draws, 
to tlie cross of Christ. One 
way or another, some way, it 
does not matter which, what 
was it ? Did you say a Preach- 
er ? Did you say a ^^ Sermon ? ^' 
Did you say ^^ a fancy ? '' Did 
you talk it away? Did you 
laugh it off ? Did you never 
guess that all this was the love 
of the Almighty moving with- 
in your heart? O beautiful 
thought, that God should have 
been within us, and left with- 
in us the signs of His pres- 
ence. I mean you, the person 
that has felt it. Do you not 
think so ? I seem as if I am 
in contact now with single 
human souls. You did not 
think so : you said it was not 



IDEALS OF STRENG TIL 3 1 

beautiful, you said you would 
rather not liave had it. Be- 
fore, you were contented, satis- 
fied ; you did all you wanted, 
you had rather that you had 
been left alone ; you would 
rather be as you were before. 
Do you say so ? I answer, 
all merciful the disturbance of 
the human life, all merciful 
the misery of a human heart ; 
and I say that in trying to 
overcome this motion of the 
Divine love within the depths 
of your being, you are engaged 
in a vain and fruitless task. 
You do not know how much 
you have lost, you have no 
conception how much you are 
loved. You do not know the 
patience of the Almighty. 



32 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

You do not know the exuber- 
ant energy of the Divine 
Spirit. What a love, to cling 
to us and to refuse to let us go ! 
What a love that has stood out 
all our resistance ! It has been 
like this. Have you ever seen 
a young child in its nurse's 
arms ? Why, when the child 
was tired and sleepy, would it 
not lie down and sleep ? I am 
sure no person can tell. But 
what it did was to fling itself 
back, and refuse to rest. And 
the nurse let it sob, held it 
firmly, till at last it rested. 
Why, it might have rested 
sooner ! And so it is with this 
soul of yours. 

We cannot overcome the 
persuasion and the resistance 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 33 

of the Divine love. All this 
struggling in your souls is 
only the wrestling against the 
very arms of love, that will 
hold you, I hope, unto your 
salvation. When you try to 
persuade a person that the 
Divine Love will receive him, 
however unloving, and that 
the Divine pity will rest on 
him however unworthy, — oh, 
\ have been thankful I have 
been a poor physician of 
human souls. There are many 
ways of giving to a human 
spirit the healing balm of 
God's salvation. You can, 
for instance, say that God is 
love, and that righteousness 
and power and wisdom and 
judgment are all fused and 



34 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

harmonized in love. You can 
point to the mission of the 
Lord Jesus, and say that Gali- 
lee and Gethsemane and Cal- 
vary and the Resurrection are 
all the Gospel of love. You 
can ask the man whether, in 
his own love, he has not had 
a mighty and merciful provi- 
dence which raised him up 
and hedged him from sin. 
And all these ways point 
him to the heavenly kingdom. 
But I do think this is a mere 
conventional argument to any 
person who is afraid of his re- 
ception at the hands of the 
Almighty. How is it that 
you wanted to return? Why 
did you want to be forgiven, 
to be cleansed, to be loved, to 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 35 

be friends with God? Now, 
are there not men and women 
here that would give much to 
be friends with God? We 
say, whenever any extraordi- 
nary thought crosses our 
mind, ^^ That is remarkable, 
that did not come from me, I 
was unconscious of it : I was 
for the moment inspired." 
Whenever that want is in the 
human heart, I say, ^^ Here is 
a prophecy of the kingdom of 
the Almighty.'' Here is the 
evangel of his love. It is just 
the spirit smiting the hard 
heart till it turns into a well 
of water. Now let me speak 
to this individual. Have you 
never been perplexed and dis- 
mayed by the commotion in 



36 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

your heart ? Have you been 
dimly conscious it was God ? 
And then have you felt you 
would wish to free yourself 
from the restraining influence, 
just that you might be as be- 
fore, just that you might have 
the old peace ? Have you 
ever done this in the days of 
old? When you were chil- 
dren, as you went along 
through the park, has your 
eye been attracted by a tiny 
jet of water springing up 
among the green grass ? You 
said, ^^ It is a spring." And 
then because you had nothing 
to do in those happy days, you 
said, " I will cover it up, and 
keep the spring down." You 
have gathered leaves, and 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 37 

eartli and stones and built a 
compact house and said : ^^ No 
more water from tliat poor 
spring will ever get out of 
that prison." By and by the 
earth loosened and fell and 
crumbled away before the ir- 
resistible stream of gentle 
water. It is impossible to re- 
strain the power of nature, and 
almost impossible to restrain 
the love of God. I wish I 
could say, for my own sake 
and yours, that I could say, 
entirely impossible. I cannot 
tell with what longing of heart 
I wish to believe that no hu- 
man heart can resist the love 
of the Almighty ; but I have 
before me the facts of human 
life. I have before me its ex- 



38 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

periences. It appears to me 
that we have the power of re- 
sisting the Divine love, a 
power that is perfectly awful. 
How do I know? Because 
people have done it. Because 
sitting in the pews here to-day 
there are people who have 
done it. You have been able 
to forget the voice of God. 
You have been able to loosen 
that affectionate pressure of 
the Divine hand, you have 
been able to obliterate the 
agitation of the Divine love. 
You are to-day as much en- 
gaged with business, and as 
entirely hopeful, your pleas- 
ure is the same to you as it 
was before that moment when 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 39 

God was stirring you. You 
have got relief. 

There are victories that are 
worse than ten defeats, vic- 
tories that with clearer eyes 
we shall regard with vain re- 
gret. ^^ Oh to be free from the 
anxieties and longings of the 
soul that are despicable ! I 
was never in such a state be- 
fore, and the sooner it is ended 
the better. Oh to be free from 
the pain of a sick soul ! I tell 
you there is something worse 
than pain, and that is the ab- 
sence of pain. Just now, as 
you said, ^^ When will it end ? 
For this is as unreal to me as 
anything I ever heard.'' Have 
you ever thought that the ab- 
sence of it is worse ? When 



40 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

a man lying on his bed is 
racked in agony we pity, and 
we stand by his side, and take 
his hand, and say ^^ We hope 
you may have strength to be 
patient.'' It is far more piti- 
able next morning when we 
come, and he says, '^ This 
morning, suddenly the pain 
disappeared, and I am now 
quite well.'' Quite well^ with 
the sunken circle beneath the 
eye, and death's pale ensigns 
upon his cheek. That is the 
most pitiable of all. Outside 
the door, when the door is 
closed upon him, we look at 
the physician, and he shakes 
his head. 

^^ Yes, mortification has set 
in." We thought so. It 



IDEALS OP STRENGTH. 41 

was the beginning of the 
end. 

Oh ! the absence of religi- 
ous conviction is the most aw- 
ful thing in human history. 
It is the insensibility of the 
soul. We are capable — take 
this in, and carry it away with 
you now — capable of spiritual 
suicide. It is given to us to 
refuse the Spirit of God or to 
yield to it. 

I say it again, it is a hard 
task. No words can describe 
how the Spirit of God can en- 
dure rebuff, refusal, insult, 
outrage, and cling to a human 
heart as a mother clings to a 
prodigal son. If He leaves 
He leaves because He cannot 
stay : if He leaves, He leaves 



42 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

because He wishes to re- 
turn. 

The Eternal Love is ever 
the same. I never preached 
otherwise, I hope I never shall. 
But the power of responding 
may die from out your soul. 
There is to each of us given, 
as I take it, a capacity for reli- 
gious feeling : a capacity for 
faith, for repentance, for love. 
We can squander it by wilful 
neglect and wanton reasoning. 
You say then the Spirit of God 
is quenched. Yes, but what 
does it mean ? It means that 
your own spirit, the only power 
that can respond to it, is 
quenched within you. You 
have destroyed it, and it is over. 
Now it is peace. 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 43 

You will not think about 
this when you leave the sub- 
ject, not once ; it will have no 
more effect upon you than a 
zephyr. When the wood is 
green, you put it into the fire, 
and it burns. You take up 
the charred branch after that, 
but you can never light it 
again. Abandoned of the Al- 
mighty ! But how ? With his 
love just breaking over you, 
in the sadness of utter despair. 

^^ Beyond me," you say, be- 
cause you do not know it, you 
are unconscious of it. Years 
ago on a summer afternoon, I 
stood on a little harbor wall 
and saw two vessels trying to 
make the entrance. They 
were lying in a narrow chan- 



44 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

nel, and, since there was not 
water enongh to keep tlieni up, 
they were lying on their side. 
But far out the tide began to 
turn, and one wave after an- 
other passed under them, and 
ever}^ wave in the channel 
the water deeper, and I saw in 
a little while that the water 
was twelve feet deep in the 
harbor, and the green, foam- 
ing waves rushed in like a 
mill-race. I looked again to- 
ward the narrow passage, and 
saw on one vessel that the}^ 
had taken advantage of the 
wind at the right moment, and 
on that first vessel they floated 
in on the full tide. Upon the 
other vessel they were not on 
the alert, though sailors do not 



IDEA LS OF STRENG Tff, 45 

often make that mistake, and 
when they tried to make the 
harbor the tide had turned, and 
they could not. The water 
grew shallower, they gave up 
the attempt, and gradually the 
vessel heeled over, and lay just 
as before on the bank of sand. 
At nightfall I went down a- 
gain, and in the dark gloam- 
ing I saw the forsaken vessel, 
and I prayed that I might not 
miss the tide which God gives 
to our souls, nor quench His 
Spirit within my heart. 



THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. 

* * Exhort one another daily, while it is 
called To-day : lest any of you be hard- 
ened through the deceitfulness of sin." 
Heb. 3 : 13. 



THE DECEITFULNESS OF 

SIN. 



There are phrases whicli 
light tip a subject as a flash 
of lightning does a darkened 
country, and embody, as in a 
a word, what we cannot reveal 
with much speaking, and one 
of these happy strokes is this, 
^^ the deceitfulness of sin.'' 
Sin, as most of us have found, 
is not only most masterful 
and dangerous, most disgrace- 
ful and degrading, but also 

most cunning and insidious. 
4 49 



5 o IDEALS OF STRENG TH. 

It lies in wait for us at sliady 
comers of our life, and ga- 
rottes us before we have the 
chance of resistance or any 
possibility of escape. It dogs 
us with stealthy tread, like the 
step of a Red Indian, it hides 
itself behind familiar and 
innocent circumstances, it al- 
lures us from the solid path- 
way of virtue with all kinds of 
devices, and then, like a will- 
o'-the-wisp, plunges us into 
the morass. It holds out to 
our too eager appetite various 
excellences, and then after- 
wards fills our mouth with the 
apples of Sodom. What I 
mean is this : I never feel as 
if I had a chance all my life 
of a fair, stand-up battle with 



IDEALS OF STRENG TH, 5 1 

any sin. Sin has always 
taken men at a disadvantage. 
We are perpetually being led 
into traps, and overtaken by 
surprises, and baffled in vari- 
ous ways. Our strong points, 
I appeal to any of you who 
ever studied our spiritual 
powers, , are continually dis- 
counted and outgeneralled, 
our weaknesses are noticed 
and undermined. Every day 
I live the conviction comes 
more strongly to my mind — 
although I cannot in any way 
explain it — that behind all 
these stratagems and these 
temptations that come and go 
with an awful sensibleness 
and appearance of cunning, 
there must be one Personal 



52 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH 



Power and one Evil Intelli- 
gence with whom I am fear- 
fully and blindl}^ wrestling for 
the holiness of my life and 
the safety of my soul. 

It would, perhaps, be im- 
possible for any of us to agree 
upon a particular sin as most 
dangerous, but I may say 
there cannot be two opinions 
about the sin, of all the master- 
ful and deadl}^ sins, which is 
most insidious, and has the 
most cunning approaches, al- 
though in the end its results 
be awful and disastrous. You 
see, there are sins which just 
fairly grip you of a sudden, 
you have a hand-to-hand tus- 
sle and the result is crowned 
victor or a disgraced victim. 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 53 

I could mention sucli a sin ; 
it is not necessary. But in- 
temperance very rarely takes 
hold of a man like that. If in- 
temperance ever does, it is be- 
cause the man's father drank, 
and the alcoholic taint is in his 
veins, and then he falls quite 
suddenly, or because he is 
placed to a peculiar disadvan- 
tage. Peculiarly intemperance 
comes with masked and un- 
suspected beginnings, and if 
you afterwards said to a man, 
^^ Where did you begin?'' he 
would not be able to identify 
the start. Young children 
full of the excitement and heat 
of animal spirits, are offered 
wine when they are too young 
to resist. I do not care to be 



5 4 IDEA LS OF S TRENG TH. 

dogmatic in this place about 
the various circumstances of 
social life, but at once I shall 
go the length of saying that 
to give children wine is some- 
thing approaching a dastardly 
sin. Women with fine sensi- 
bilities and highly-strung tem- 
peraments are ordered stimu- 
lants during critical circum- 
stances of their lives, and they 
acquire a habit which, in the 
end, becomes their master. 
Young men serve their time 
in offices where the principals 
are not so careful as they 
should be about this thing, and 
where other young men go 
out two or three times a day 
to the bar, and they begin to 
go also. Bargains are made 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 55 

in some lines of business, over 
refreshments, which could not 
otherwise be made, or would 
not be made, as one has told 
me, at such a profit. And so 
the man gets his present profit 
and lays the foundation of his 
future moral wreck. Gentle- 
men take wine without reserve 
at dinner ; some of whom are 
old enough to know better, 
some of whom are too young 
ever to have begun, others are 
not content with a legitimate 
use at meal-times, but must 
go to a restaurant during the 
day for pleasure or for busi- 
ness. I believe that number 
is growing smaller, I believe 
the day is coming when the 
finger of scorn will be pointed 



5 6 IDEALS OF S TRENG TH. 

at a man wlio will go out from 
his place for no other purpose 
than that of drinking. Now, 
mark you, I am not saying a 
word just now in regard to in- 
temperance. I am pointing 
out boldly how innocent and 
moderate drinking prepares 
the way. The enemy comes 
to us under the form of busi- 
ness relationships and good 
fellowship, and with all the 
innocent and familiar circum- 
stances of life. We take him 
by the hand, for he wears at 
that time a pleasant face. We 
domesticate him in our life 
and home, and afterward find 
ourselves in the grip of a tiger. 
It is the secrecy of his first ap- 
proach, it is the gentleness of 



IDEALS OP STRENG TH. 5 7 

the descent I am now wishing 
to drive home on the minds 
of those who are still young 
people, and also on others. 
If you see an old acquaintance, 
and an early and honored one, 
disgracing himself in the face 
of society, then, for the sake 
of charity, and for the sake of 
your own safety, remember 
this — he, perhaps, learned it 
first from you and me. And 
now suppose the two of you 
could go back on the path to- 
gether, you could not tell the 
spot where the two roads di- 
verged and where one took the 
fatal turn. 

You cannot help noticing 
that although this sin is not 
fastidious about its victims, 



58 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

and will take the lowest and 
coarsest, like the prowling 
tiger, it has won the most un- 
expected successes with high 
and gentle spirits. It is not 
those who are repulsive and 
unloved that have fallen most 
ready victims to intemperance. 
Some of the meanest wretches 
that walk the streets, whatever 
may be their follies, seem to 
be proof against this tempta- 
tion. No ; it is men who are 
lovable — and men whom we 
have loved, who have had high 
instincts, and have had noble 
hearts, who would not do a 
person a bad turn, who have 
many beautiful accomplish- 
ments. Taking advantage as I 
argue, and believe to be the 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 59 

case, taking advantage of their 
facile good-nature, of their gen- 
ial popularity, of their very 
heartiness, this sin stalks them 
to the death, just as a noble ani- 
mal of the chase is marked out 
through his very beauty, by the 
marksmen on every side. You 
must know some friend of 
yours to whom this happened. 
You loved him, and everybody 
loved him. Well, when he fell 
how sorry we were, we would 
rather have seen twelve other 
men fall than that man. We 
gave him his chance, we ral- 
lied around him. He was re- 
stored, he fell again — he fell 
again — he fell again ; till the 
handsome face lost the stamp 
of its nobility, and the bright 



6o IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

and refined nature grew fleshly 
and coarse. Yet to the end his 
heart was so kind that it would 
respond to the merest touch 
of friendship, and he had mo- 
ments of self-reproach which 
were almost an atonement. 
We said of him, as our hearts 
bled, ^^ he was his owoi worst 
enemy." 

Perhaps, you now think, 
some of you, that I have fairly 
launched on the sea of tem- 
perance speaking. You say, 
^^I know plenty of men who 
are tolerably free livers, and 
are robust in health." Will 
you now let me state my point 
definitely ? I am not here to 
say there is no alternative be- 
tween a man being an absolute 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 6i 

abstainer and a downright 
drunkard. I am not here to 
say that because a man uses 
this thing carefully he will 
certainly be in more danger 
than if he did not use it at all, 
any more than a man who 
swims is more likely to be 
drowned than a man who of 
his own free will never leaves 
the dry land. I want to make 
a protest, which I think I may 
utter, against those rash state- 
ments, such as that a moder- 
ate drinker is a greater pest, 
and a more dangerous man, 
than an absolute drunkard. 
He is not so physically, he is 
not so morally, he is not so 
socially. It is simply sheer 
nonsense. May I hope now. 



62 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

finally, that we liave done with 
it ? But my point is this, that 
if a man leaves the path of a 
most conscientious and steady 
moderation, there is no saying 
that he may not speedily land 
in the depths. ^^ I know men 
who could not be called mod- 
erate, in any pulpit sense, and 
to-day they are not ruined." 
This you may say, and I ask, 
how old are they ? ^^ About 
forty," you say. Yes : your 
case is too young yet, it is 
just in process. Just now 
that man has business cares, 
he has to make his fortune, 
he has great responsibilities, 
he is restrained and coerced 
by the circumstances of life. 
Give him twenty years of free 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 63 

living, will his will be as clear 
then, when he is sixty ? When 
he has made his fortnne, he is 
free from business. I would 
give nothing for him then, 
when, with a relaxed discipline, 
as an old man he strips and 
enters the arena. Ah ! this 
is the testing point. Pitiable 
that he should break down 
when he is old and should 
have been preparing himself 
to break down for twenty 
years, when you were stand- 
ing round and saying how safe 
he is. 

I will take an illustration 
from another city for obvious, 
reasons, and I do not think 
the case can be identified here. 
If it is, alas ! it does not mat- 



64 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

ter. When I lived in that 
city one of the great profes- 
sions was conspicuously head- 
ed by a man of the most 
remarkable ability and distin- 
guished fame. His name and 
position were so great that he 
could command all the impor- 
tant business that fell within 
his province, and all that he 
did, he did most earnestly. 
He was a leading member of 
the Scottish church, he was 
a darling in society, he was a 
great collector of rare books. 
All the time habits of excess 
were eating into the moral and 
intellectual being of the man, 
and w^hile outwardly the trunk 
stood, it was entirely rotten 
within. Years ago he had to 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 65 

come down from tlie position 
he so nobly filled, lie was ig- 
nored and passed by in the 
work he nsed to be the only 
one to do, and when last I 
heard of him, that once most 
honored and conspicious name 
was covered with obscnrity. 

Young and strong, but by 
and by you will be old. How 
do you know that what you can 
do just now in this way, you 
shall be able to do w4th abso- 
lute safety afterwards ? You 
are simply domesticating a 
tiger-cub, and now you play 
with it and show it tricks, by 
and by it will turn and rend 
you. The one reason, friends, 
why we have to guard against 

this sin with such extraordi- 
S 



66 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

nary care, is the fact that it, of 
all sins, insinuates itself into 
the fibre of the nature. And 
immediately it begins to affect 
the character. Do not think 
of it as a robe that may have 
been slipped over you, and 
when it grows uncomfortable 
you will fling it off. It is a 
garment like that Hercules 
wore, it is soaked in every 
thread and fibre with poison, 
and the poison will soon begin 
to go into your system. What 
I mean is this, it does not mat- 
ter how honorable and straight- 
forward a gentleman is before 
he falls beneath the power of 
this vice. You are as simple 
as a child if you expect that 
in a year after, in that man. 



IDEALS OF S TRENG TH, 6 7 

the very elements of virtue or 
of strength will remain. You 
know that is true, you know 
that there are men whose fore- 
heads would once have man- 
tled with a genuine blush if 
charged with falsehood, they 
would deny a fact now and 
look into your eye. And you 
know that that man will con- 
descend to the low, despicable 
cunning of a savage, no in- 
genuity has ever been discov- 
ered short of absolute confine- 
ment that will restrain that 
man from ruining himself, 
and he will practise any 
amount of deceit to obtain the 
poison which is his destruc- 
tion. 

His character begins just 



68 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

simply to crumble away like 
tlie foundation of a house 
when the water is running be- 
neath it. I am putting a 
question to you. Is it not a 
certainty — I never knew an 
exception, never — that you 
cannot depend upon the word 
of a man who has fallen un- 
der the power of this vice ! 
Friends, it is now the victim's 
will that is to blame. You 
just look back over your life 
and try to see if my words are 
not true. I will give you this 
little bit of personal history, 
although I am bound to say 
it can be no new thing to you, 
your own memory will be 
awakened by it, unless your 
family and friends have been 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 69 

different from every other 
man's society. One of my 
few early friends was tlie son 
of a good man who held a high 
position. That boy is now a 
tramp and a vagabond npon 
the face of the earth. And if 
he is living, he will sooner or 
later come to my honse, for he 
comes to the house of all his 
old friends, just to get bread. 
He will go away again, and I 
tell you his case is hopeless. 
Give him a little bread, a few 
clothes, he goes away on the 
weary track again. At the 
old Scotch grammar school 
where I was preparing for the 
university, we fought like 
Scottish lads, hardly, for our 
honors. I struggled for the 



70 IDEALS OF STRENGTH. 

second place ; a lad bright in 
intellect as lie was strong of 
body, could easily have taken 
it, but by kind good nature 
he allowed me to share the 
second place with him. We 
went together to the Univers- 
ity, both of us studied for the 
church. In two years he left 
and went away, although of 
course we expected his career 
to be very brilliant. The 
gayety of the University had 
proved too much for him. I 
had a private tutor. He not 
only drilled me in my Latin 
composition, but he was one 
of the first men that gave me 
a love of letters. He was 
kindness itself to me, and I 
loved him. By and by he re- 



IDEALS OF STRENG TH, 7 1 

ceived a parish. He used to 
preach ably and effectively, 
and became very popular. He 
is not in that parish now, he 
is not in the church now. 

One of my college professors 
was a man of genial disposi- 
tion, and a splendid student, 
but the same enemy was too 
much for him. He was a good 
and sincere man, and an able 
theologian. He does not hold 
the chair now, he is not in this 
country. I see them one by 
one pass to oblivion, with a 
cloud upon their names. 

I apologise. I would not 
have given a chapter of per- 
sonal history, were it not that 
you have, many of you, read 
it at one time or another. 



7 2 IDEALS OF STRENG TH, 

Your own friends, your boy 
intimates at school, your fel- 
low clerks — where are they all 
now ? How many of them are 
living ? How many are dead ? 
What did they die of ? Clerks 
that used to be ^ in your first 
office, your old partner, the 
man you met in your busi- 
ness, — are there none of their 
names that occur to you 
now? 

This sin comes into a house 
like a serpent. We can keep 
out any other sin, not this one. 
Your child, the little fellow 
that used to sit beside you,- 
who used to nestle against you 
in the church. You see his 
face to-night ; do you know 
where he is ? He whom you 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 73 

loved, now an outcast. You 
are silent. 

Wliat do you propose to do 
to counteract and destroy this 
terrible thing, the evil that is 
eating out the life of the middle 
class. I say nothing of other 
classes. Have you any plan ? 
Oh, you must have some plan 
— you must have some. What 
do you propose to do to save 
your children from the power 
of this vice? How do you 
propose to save your friend ? 
Are you just going to let him 
slip ? How do you propose to 
save yourself ? I do not think 
any one plan will do ; I believe 
you will have to try one, or two 
or three plans. It is worth 
all your thought, all your trou- 



74 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

ble, all your pain. If you 
could rescue one single man 
or woman, although it is just 
about hopeless, rescue them. 
Try. If you could rescue one 
man or woman, it would be 
the greatest achievement of 
your life. Are you going to 
fight this evil for yourself? 
Is there a man here who has 
to fight it for himself ? Then 
let me say, do not depend on 
your strength, for this is the 
deadliest enemy any human 
being ever had to face. 

Young men, will you begin 
to reason ? For I am terrified 
when I see a young man who 
does not reason, and, with a 
blinded, darkened vision, goes 
as thousands before him have 



IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 75 

gone. I seem to see him un- 
der the hand of the destroyer. 
I know a few men who have 
been arrested upon their 
course, and turned to glorify 
the power of God's name. 
Take care where you go, and 
with whom. There are sights 
in every city that would ruin 
an angel if possible. There 
are men who have been drag- 
ged down before my eyes. I 
saw them dragged, and could 
not see what hand was below 
the water, and I asked for the 
cause. It was their ^^ set '* 
which ruined them. I under- 
stood it then. And above all 
things, remember this — Christ 
nailed the serpent head of 
every sin to His own Cross, 



76 IDEALS OF STRENGTH, 

and He lives to-day to help 
every man and woman to be 
delivered from sin, and to give 
tliem final victory. 



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